It is well known in the art to employ a press for squeezing juice from fruit or the like. One such press is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,665 to the present inventor. This patent shows a plurality of press plates or racks which have filter bags disposed between them. In operation the bags are suitably filled with the fruit which is to be pressed, and the press plates or racks are moved together to squeeze the juice from the fruit. At the completion of the pressing operation the press racks and the bags are turned upside down and the pomace or press cake is then removed from the bags. Invariably the press cake sticks to one side or the other of the filter bag. While ideally the press cake (or pomace) should fall from the bags when they are shaken, this frequently doesn't occur. This then requires the press operator to insert a paddle-like instrument between the press cake and the side of the filter bag to which the press cake is sticking to free the press cake from the bag. As this is a time consuming operation it reduces the potential through-put of the machine.
In other presses differing designs have been utilized for facilitating the removal of the press cake from the press. One such design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,844 to Emele which discloses a sinusoidal web have filter portions disposed between the press racks. The filter portions will be caused to be shifted out of the plane of the press cake when the press is opened to dislodge the press cake.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,182 to Takashima discloses a plural filter press employing vertical filter cloths which may be vibrated to dislodge the press cake.
Another design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,436 to Iwatani who discloses jolting means for dislodging the press cake from a filter press.
While all of the above press devices are well known in the art, it is still desirable to provide an improved filter bag design which will provide a means for facilitating the removal of the press cake from the filter bag upon the completion of the filtering operation and which, when used in a filter press, will facilitate the pressing of juice from the pulp which forms a press cake.